Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. Brewers Sunday game threadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2018-04-09T10:30:02-05:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/169612852018-04-09T10:30:02-05:002018-04-09T10:30:02-05:002018 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 9
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<img alt="MLB: Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cye60VwC6TI_LAOnG7hgi0jVCjE=/155x64:2308x1499/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59320007/usa_today_10776302.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Cubs blank Brewers 3-0; return home 5-4</p> <p id="WKpnUa">As the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> get ready for a cold and damp home opener, hopefully if you had stepped towards or out onto the ledge after a few hiccups in the first handful of games you took a step back or two over the weekend. Sure, I don’t think the <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> put their best foot forward. Certainly losing their closer in the series opener was a big loss and not having the potent bat of Christian Yellich was another blow to their team. Still, their pitchers by and large were fantastic through the weekend and the games were generally close and competitive.</p>
<p id="IBcIbr">Nine games is not a massive sample to be sure. At the same time, over five percent of the season is in the books. The Cubs are tied for third in baseball in runs allowed per game. Run prevention is a fairly predictive statistic. They are only about middle of the pack so far in runs scored per game. But that’s still good for a +13 run differential, good for eighth in baseball. The Cubs are the only team in baseball not to have played a home game yet. Of the seven teams ahead of the Cubs, five have played six home games, one has played five and the <a href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a> have played only three. This team is going to win a lot of games. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. </p>
<p id="BUKw7X">With that, we turn our attention to yesterday’s game as we look at what WPA had to say about Heroes and Goats. As always the Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA (Win Probability Added — <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/3/28/17159170/cubs-heroes-and-goats-2018-season-primer"><strong>here’s a good explanation of how WPA works</strong></a>) and are not in any way subjective. Many days WPA will not tell the story of what happened, but often it can give at least a glimpse to who rose to the occasion in a high leverage moment or who didn’t get the job done in that moment. Also note, for the purposes of Heroes and Goats, we ignore the results of pitchers while they are batting and hitters while they are pitching. With that, we get to the results.</p>
<p id="BoVQ6C"><strong>Game 9, April 8 - Cubs blank Brewers 3-0; take three of four (5-4)</strong></p>
<div id="O5XhsY">
<iframe src="https://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=wins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2018-04-08&team=Brewers&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width="450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=2018-04-08&team=Brewers&dh=0&season=2018">FanGraphs</a></span>
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<p id="rI6V5v"><strong>THE THREE HEROES:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="iutqZJ">
<strong>Superhero - </strong><span>Jose Quintana</span> (.374). Jose bounced back fantastically from his rough outing in Miami last week. Six innings, three hits, two walks and six strike outs. He only had one runner reach third base and that was in the sixth inning, but he got a big strike out to get out of that inning.</li>
<li id="RP3kwF">
<strong>Hero - </strong> <span>Ben Zobrist</span> (.127). Ben continues to be a pleasant surprise offensively as he appears resurgent in the early going after a tough 2017. On Sunday, he got the scoring started with a home run leading off the fourth (.119) and added another lead off single in the sixth. He had two hits in four at bats on the day.</li>
<li id="ym7UVu">
<strong>Sidekick - </strong><span>Tommy La Stella</span> (.092). The box score shows that Tommy was hitless in one at bat. However, he batted with one out and runners on first and second in the seventh. He reached on an error and the play ended with runners on second and third and a run scored (.092). </li>
</ul>
<p id="GF1d9L"><strong>THE THREE GOATS:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="irVnu4">
<strong>Billy Goat - </strong><span>Kris Bryant</span> (-.097). Kris had a tough day after a huge start to the season. He was hitless in four at bats. You’ll notice that’s a theme today.</li>
<li id="xkftoI">
<strong>Goat - </strong><span>Kyle Schwarber</span> (-.092). Schwarber also was hitless in four at bats. Kyle could be heading to a second consecutive season where he challenges people to look at on base and slugging and not batting average when evaluating hitters.</li>
<li id="GfmhIw">
<strong>Kid - </strong>Addison Russelll (-.079). Addy rounds out the trio of Cubs hitters who were hitless in four at bats. Each had one strike out. </li>
</ul>
<p id="xGJaBe"><strong>WPA Play of the Game - </strong>Through three innings on Sunday the teams were scoreless. The Cubs had managed a double and a walk through three. The Brewers had two hits. Not a whole lot of anything going on until Ben Zobrist lead off the fourth with a home run off the right field foul pole. That gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead. (.119) That’s two straight days that Ben was involved with the play of the game and four straight days the Cubs have accounted for the biggest play of the game in a positive manner.</p>
<p id="Xj93C1">*Brewers Play of the Game - Right after the Zobrist homer <span>Willson Contreras</span> was hit by a pitch. He attempts to steal second and was caught stealing. (.060)</p>
<p id="lP9lV1"><strong>Cumulative Leaders:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="23b8D2">
<strong>Superhero - </strong>Ben Zobrist 6</li>
<li id="Rfw44F">
<strong>Hero - </strong>Tommy La Stella 4</li>
<li id="zZJ2UN">
<strong>Sidekick - </strong>Kris Bryant, <span>Steve Cishek</span>, <span>Eddie Butler</span>, <span>Tyler Chatwood</span> 3</li>
</ul>
<p id="17LaL9"><strong>Up Next: </strong>The Cubs finally return home to open their 2018 home schedule. Weather permitting they will begin their home schedule against the <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a> who are presently residing in first place in the National League Central. The Pirates have jumped out to a 7-2 start, largely against American League competition. They opened by sweeping the <a href="https://www.blessyouboys.com/">Tigers</a> in Detroit. Followed that with ah home split against the <a href="https://www.twinkietown.com/">Twins</a> and then took three of four at home from the <a href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Reds</a>. While the Twins figure to be a very good team, the Cubs should be the stiffest test to date for the Pirates. It remains to be seen if the Pirates or Brewers will turn out to be the stiffer test for the Cubs.</p>
<p id="Uq16ti">The Cubs have Tyler Chatwood on the hill. Tyler was a hard luck loser in his first start after throwing six innings and allowing only one run as the Cubs lost 1-0. He did allow four hits and six walks that day, so it wasn’t a dominant outing. He’ll look to improve on that one against the Pirates. Chatwood has made two career starts against the Pirates, both of them in Pittsburgh, one each of the last two years. The lines are remarkably similar as he threw six innings and allowed six hits and one run in each. In the two starts combined, he walked three and struck out seven. </p>
<p id="1FT9t0">The Pirates will send <span>Ivan Nova</span> to the mound against the Cubs. Ivan has made two starts this year and had an 0-1 record and a 6.10 ERA. He’s allowed 11 hits and seven runs (all earned) in 10.1 innings. He’s struck out seven and walked four so far. He’s off to the worst start among Pirates starters. Nova made three starts against the Cubs in 2017. He compiled a 2-1 record. He threw 16.2 innings, allowed 14 hits, four walks, struck out 17 and allowed 10 runs (nine earned). The Pirates offense has been very potent in the early going. It will be interesting to see if they can keep that rolling in what figures to be a very cold home opener.</p>
<p id="xqGsRN"><strong>Poll:</strong></p>
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/4/9/17214940/2018-cubs-heroes-and-goats-game-9Thomas Smith2018-04-08T15:55:02-05:002018-04-08T15:55:02-05:00Cubs 3, Brewers 0: You go, Zo
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KTqVhfcLRC-z71FVwzyX7IQrilE=/0x0:2846x1897/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59313497/usa_today_10776260.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Ben Zobrist has been one of the Cubs’ hottest hitters so far this year.</p> <p id="r8H9A8"><span>Ben Zobrist</span> had a bad 2017, mainly due to a wrist injury suffered in May. He also missed part of spring training this year with a back problem, and he’ll turn 37 next month.</p>
<p id="1oSDB6">All of these factors seemed to indicate that Zobrist would likely have a reduced role for the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> in 2018. And that’s okay, because his leadership and key hit in the 10th inning of Game 7 in 2016 were major factors in the Cubs winning the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a>. Much can be forgiven for that, and Zobrist will, for those things, be forever beloved by Cubs fans.</p>
<p id="r3t8Dc">Having said all that, Zobrist seems to have set out to prove to everyone that he’s not quite done baseballing yet. Zo went 2-for-4 and homered Sunday afternoon, helping lead the Cubs to <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2018_04_08_chnmlb_milmlb_1">a 3-0 win over the Brewers</a> and a series win over their divisional rivals.</p>
<p id="j0Jlf8">Here’s Zo’s homer, which gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning:</p>
<div id="Azyvb3">
<blockquote class="twitter-video">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/benzobrist18?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benzobrist18</a> launches his first home run of the season. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EverybodyIn?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EverybodyIn</a> <a href="https://t.co/7YvDwfHKrm">pic.twitter.com/7YvDwfHKrm</a></p>— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/983061304620576770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p id="S0NMIx">The ball looked like it doinked off the foul pole, but we, and he, will take it. It’s his first homer of the season, and he’s now hitting .360/.448/.520, granted in a very small sample size of 29 plate appearances. Nevertheless, if Zobrist can even hit at his 2016 level he’s a valuable player, and gives Joe Maddon many more options both for starting positions in right field, left field and second base, as well as off the bench.</p>
<p id="LQubP9">Meanwhile, <span>Jose Quintana</span> was mowing down Brewers. He wound up with six shutout innings, with just three hits and two walks allowed, and six strikeouts. The six K’s leave him four short of 1,000 for his career, a milestone he’ll almost certainly reach in his next start, which should come up next weekend against the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a>.</p>
<p id="MMAc2c">The Cubs added a run in the fifth. <span>Jason Heyward</span> walked with one out, was sacrificed to second, and scored on a double by <span>Albert Almora Jr.</span></p>
<p id="HwrGSq">In the seventh, after one-out singles by <span>Victor Caratini</span> and Heyward, Quintana’s batting-order spot came up. He’d thrown only 87 pitches and could almost certainly have gone another inning, but Joe wanted more offense, thus <span>Tommy La Stella</span> was sent up to pinch hit. If the Cubs had been leading, say, 5-0 or 7-0, Quintana would likely have taken the at-bat and perhaps had a chance to complete a shutout.</p>
<p id="jTxbNS">Instead, TLS ripped a sharp ground ball down the first-base line that <span>Jesus Aguilar</span> couldn’t handle. La Stella wound up on second, with Caratini scoring. It was charged as an error to Aguilar, which seems like a hometown scoring call to help the Brewers ERA — that ball was sharply struck and could have been ruled a hit. Instead, the Brewers were charged with the seventh error in this series and 14th overall, which is by far the most by any team (the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> and <a href="https://www.thegoodphight.com/">Phillies</a> are next with 10 each).</p>
<p id="IU4a3w"><span>Justin Wilson</span> threw a scoreless seventh, striking out two. <span>Carl Edwards Jr.</span> worked a 1-2-3 eighth. And <span>Brandon Morrow</span> had an easy 1-2-3 ninth for his second save in as many days, finishing up a nicely-played win all around, offensively and pitching-wise.</p>
<p id="BEXXX3">Heyward had some trouble with fly balls both Saturday and Sunday, which is really unusual for him. I’m going to attribute that to the windows at Miller Park. You saw the weird shadows cast onto the field by the windows on the right-field side Saturday. There are similar windows on the left-field side, and even on a day when it’s not sunny, like Sunday, that’s going to create some glare for a right fielder. This will be less of a problem later in the season when the roof is open at Miller Park and the entire ballpark is brighter for day games, of which the Cubs have two more this year: Wednesday, June 13 and Monday, September 3 (Labor Day).</p>
<p id="Vx1wNO">WGN-TV did make a couple of minor changes to their scorebox for this game. Here’s the WGN box as it looked on Opening Weekend in Miami, with blue dots at the right indicating outs:</p>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q5B5-IbtCk1WTmju7SF_UTOmJPY=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10585699/Screen_Shot_2018_04_04_at_9.17.18_AM.png">
</figure>
<p id="49Rwma">For Sunday’s game, the outs were white dots:</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/RkEEG8Qa7y_KfMn_23dgIRe0KE8=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10611237/Screen_Shot_2018_04_08_at_3.34.02_PM.png">
</figure>
<p id="uPsyJb">That’s... a marginal improvement. The white dots are more readable than the blue ones, as is the white lettering for “PITCHES” instead of blue. There’s also a black background behind the “on-base” indicators, making those easier to read as well.</p>
<p id="8MyWfA">But I’d still rather see outs denoted by numbers, not dots.</p>
<p id="ZqA6LC">Something notable about the nine games on this trip:</p>
<p id="71hE41">Cubs wearing road gray jerseys: 5-0<br>Cubs wearing blue alt jerseys: 0-4</p>
<p id="FTA9TT">I’m thinking they should stick with the grays on the road, for now at least.</p>
<p id="KuUc0H">So the Cubs come home with that 5-4 road trip, which, really, is pretty good no matter who you’re playing. Plus, they made a statement in Milwaukee by taking three of four from a team that was expected to possibly contend for the division title. The Cubs currently trail the <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a> by two games in the N.L. Central, and they’ll have a chance to do something about that beginning Monday afternoon when they return home at last — the final team to have a home opener in 2018. They’ll face the Pirates at 1:20 p.m. CT, with <span>Tyler Chatwood</span> on the mound for the Cubs and <span>Ivan Nova</span> for the Bucs.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/4/8/17213200/cubs-brewers-recap-ben-zobrist-jose-quintana-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2018-04-08T15:10:02-05:002018-04-08T15:10:02-05:00Overflow thread 2: Cubs vs. Brewers, Sunday 4/8, 1:10 CT
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BYyQjSSiXULjc0jG74vhq_HG_QI=/0x0:4331x2887/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59310375/usa_today_10773929.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="pNzqzP">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/4/8/17197198/overflow-thread-2-cubs-vs-brewers-sunday-4-8-1-10-ctAl Yellon2018-04-08T14:10:02-05:002018-04-08T14:10:02-05:00Overflow thread 1: Cubs vs. Brewers, Sunday 4/8, 1:10 CT
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hKjfOG9Hng9geJK1a5Tkv5zz3_Y=/0x0:2583x1722/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59310371/usa_today_10774103.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="pNzqzP">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/4/8/17197196/overflow-thread-1-cubs-vs-brewers-sunday-4-8-1-10-ctAl Yellon2018-04-08T13:00:02-05:002018-04-08T13:00:02-05:00First pitch thread: Cubs vs. Brewers, Sunday 4/8, 1:10 CT
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KfHEa5TzVbDeV7MtLn4asmeJreY=/0x0:2115x1410/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59264097/usa_today_10757177.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="alZFhK">Go get ‘em, Jose.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/4/8/17197148/first-pitch-thread-cubs-vs-brewers-sunday-4-8-1-10-ctAl Yellon2018-04-08T11:00:01-05:002018-04-08T11:00:01-05:00Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Sunday 4/8, 1:10 CT
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/64IPfC8azcqGbcx97JPnH2etKAo=/0x0:2555x1703/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59310363/usa_today_10774267.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Cubs go for the series win and at last, complete their road trip.</p> <p id="EHgG7s">Notes for this afternoon’s game:</p>
<ul>
<li id="hQjfmK">The Cubs bullpen has thrown 35⅓ innings in the first eight games to begin the season, posting a major league-best 1.02 ERA (4 ER/35.1 IP), the lowest mark of any big league bullpen (the Mets are next closest with a 1.32 ERA). The bullpen opened this year with a 15⅔-scoreless innings streak through the 16th inning of March 30’s contest. That is the longest scoreless innings streak by the Cubs bullpen to begin a season since 1990, when the pen began the year with 20 scoreless innings.</li>
<li id="5HwAj3">Today’s game ends a two-week sojourn in which the Cubs have traveled over 3,600 miles. It began with a 1,975-mile flight from Phoenix to Fort Myers for the two exhibition games vs. the Red Sox. Following a bus ride to Miami for that series, the team flew 1,125 miles to Cincinnati, played one game, got rained out of the other, then flew 250 miles to Chicago for Wednesday’s off day, then a 92-mile bus ride to Milwaukee for this weekend. Despite all that, per <a href="http://baseballsavant.com">baseballsavant.com</a> the Cubs will travel the fifth-fewest miles of any MLB team in 2018. The Reds have the fewest miles to travel (20,738) while the Mariners have the longest way to go (40,783).</li>
</ul>
<p id="iyrf8A">Here are today’s particulars.</p>
<p id="Vergm4"><a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> lineup:</p>
<div id="O4El5t">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here is today's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> lineup for the finale in Milwaukee! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EverybodyIn?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EverybodyIn</a><br><br>Game preview: <a href="https://t.co/nrvShT0Opb">https://t.co/nrvShT0Opb</a> <a href="https://t.co/BPzgTUpZNW">pic.twitter.com/BPzgTUpZNW</a></p>— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/982989488837353472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<p id="paTjw6"><a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> lineup:</p>
<div id="nrmZof">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here is the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Brewers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Brewers</a> lineup for the series finale of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MILvsChC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MILvsChC</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThisIsMyCrew?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThisIsMyCrew</a> <a href="https://t.co/noDUgNmODE">pic.twitter.com/noDUgNmODE</a></p>— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brewers/status/982992054685982720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<h2 id="gxVc2B">
<span>Jose Quintana</span>, LHP vs. <span>Chase Anderson</span>, RHP</h2>
<div class="c-float-left"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fC4t9TM6UTGDTphy2pQdQMBKshQ=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10594595/usa_today_10738770.jpg">
<cite>Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports</cite>
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</div>
<div class="c-float-right"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_wMg7fTyTNXeUX18X7K_EBkn0nQ=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10594603/usa_today_10737364.jpg">
<cite>Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports</cite>
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</div>
<p id="mkf3cJ">You will, no doubt, remember Jose Quintana’s magnificent three-hit shutout thrown against the Brewers <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL201709240.shtml">last September 24</a>, one of the best Cubs starts in recent years.</p>
<p id="SKngLq">His first start this year, last Sunday against the Marlins, was... not so good. He managed to get through six innings, but walked four and allowed six runs. </p>
<p id="fzfPaz">Current Brewers are hitting .224 (30-for-134) against Quintana with no home runs and 29 strikeouts. Hopefully Q continues the dominance he showed last fall.</p>
<p id="1EBsWa">One last note: Q is 10 strikeouts away from 1,000 for his career.</p>
<p id="jjbKwQ">Chase Anderson had a very good year in 2017, but overall his numbers against the Cubs last year weren’t so good: 4.87 ERA, 1.377 WHIP in four starts covering 20⅓ innings, with four home runs allowed. Overall in 100 at-bats against him, Cubs hitters have seven home runs, including three by Kris Bryant, who is the Cubs’ hottest hitter right now. Hint, hint, KB.</p>
<p id="HYmPnH">Today’s game is on WGN.</p>
<p id="47IVCe"><a href="https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/2018/04/08">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p id="Xe5URc"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2018_04_08_chnmlb_milmlb_1">MLB.com Gameday</a></p>
<p id="iDRiK8"><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/2018/MIL201804080.shtml">Baseball-reference.com game preview</a></p>
<p id="AScVZw"><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/events/537009/pregame">SB Nation game preview</a></p>
<p id="c01E3n">Please visit our SB Nation <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> site <a href="http://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brew Crew Ball</a>. If you do go there to interact with Brewers fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.</p>
<p id="4R9cxt">The 2018 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2017. Here's how it works.</p>
<p id="uNrOo7">You'll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).</p>
<p id="Jy7Er2">At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.</p>
<p id="F5ehVY">You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in <a href="http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/chicago-cubs-game-threads">this section link</a>). They will also appear in the game's StoryStream as noted above.</p>
<p id="pjBR1E">The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.</p>
<p id="AEd0uI">Discuss amongst yourselves.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/4/8/17197118/chicago-cubs-milwaukee-brewers-preview-sundayAl Yellon